Ready to migrate
Newsletter 08/08/2018
Yesterday we successfully completed one of the last training flights with the Northern Bald Ibises in Überlingen at Lake Constance. The 31 birds fly reliably in the company of the two aircrafts.
The flights over distances of up to 60 km gave the birds the opportunity to experience the thermals. Also, the birds increasingly showed the tendency to form an ordered flight formation.
Two shorter flights are still on the schedule before the human-led migration starts (presumably) on August 15. During those shorter flights, the birds will be equipped with new data loggers for the first time. These devices record the position of each bird with high frequency (5 Hz) and accuracy. The data collection is part of a research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund and carried out by the Waldrappteam together with other partners. In this context, the Italian PhD student Elisa Perinot researches on the structure and function of the formation flight.
During the last few days, a team of National Geographic was on site to document the project. The National Geographic channel broadcasts in 143 countries and reaches more than 160 million homes. This is the preliminary highlight of a whole series of international TV productions this year.
We are also well represented in international print media, including The Guardian and Yale Environment 360, and even TV shows in the US, like Right this Minute, are reporting about the Northern Bald Ibises and our project.
All those reports about the project also give us ample opportunities to communicate topics related to species conservation. Thus, the Northern Bald Ibis has become an indicator for the threats to biodiversity caused by illegal bird hunting, which is increasingly registered also beyond the borders of Italy. In a similar way, the Northern Bald Ibis became an indicator species for the substantial losses of large birds due to electrocution on dangerous pylons of medium voltage power lines.
Picture (Corinna Esterer): During the last training flights above Lake Constance, the birds are flying more and more in a V-formation.
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